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She’d said love. It wasn’t just him in this. He wasn’t alone in this bond. It wasn’t like the first time. She wasn’t using him, she wasn’t just trying to get over someone.
He wasn’t collateral damage.
She truly cared about him.
“I bought 1010 Winding Creek,” he said gruffly.
“I know,” she said thickly, clutching his shirt in her fists. “I was so happy.”
“Yeah?” he asked, setting her back on her feet so he could look in her eyes.
“Lucia and the girls told me all about how important that number is, and that you would’ve seen it as a sign.” She slid her hands up his chest and rested them there. “Lucia saw you there months ago.”
Gunner’s mind shorted out. “What?”
The smile that stretched across Hallie’s face was the prettiest thing he’d ever witnessed. “She told me to tell you something.”
“What’s that?”
Hallie’s eyes went soft. “You’re getting warmer.”
Chills lifted the fine hairs on his arms. “You want to go on a ride with me?”
“Depends. Where to?”
“Home.”
Hallie’s face crumpled, and she dropped her gaze. Two tears made little stains on the concrete near her feet. She nodded, and he hooked a finger under her chin and lifted that pretty gaze back to his.
“No more hiding. I won’t let anyone hurt you. You can be the exact woman you want to be. No more running for either of us.”
She slid her arms around his middle and rested her cheek against him, hugged him up tight.
“No more running.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Watch out!” Gunner called.
Hallie ducked out of the way of a falling wall. As the dust settled around her, she dragged her gaze up to Gunner.
“I swear to everything, I’m going to get one of the girls to Turn you.”
She giggled and brushed debris off her legs. “Lucia and Cadence already offered. Do you want me to be a tiger, or a bear?”
“Wait, what?” Gunner asked from where he was scooping the remnants of the dilapidated old cabin into the bucket of the tractor.
“What would you prefer?” she teased.
He cut the engine of the tractor. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m pretty sure Lucia and Cadence were not joking. Remember that day I accidentally cut myself at work, and it was still bleeding when we met up with the Warlanders? They went all protective on me in the bathroom and told me to choose.”
“Oh my God, we aren’t talking about this right now. I need you to step away from the cabin, you are stressing me out. But also, smile. You look fuckin’ cute and I’m going to take a picture.”
She laughed and adjusted her hard hat, pulled her thick gloves farther up her forearms, and struck a pose as Gunner held his phone up and took a photo of her.
“Where did you get the tractor from?” she asked as she approached it.
